Race relations in Australia

Any discussion of the politics of race must begin with the concept of race itself. Race is generally conceptualized as a biological category, a genetic distinction. Race is in commonsensical ways of thinking and speaking conceptualized as something that is real or true in an objective sense, in the same way that it is true that humans require oxygen to survive or that carbon monoxide can be lethal because of the greater affinity of hemoglobin for this gas than for oxygen. In some sense this is true, for certainly there are physical distinctions amongst different people and different populations that are grouped together to form racial categories and these physical distinctions are based in genetic and chromosomal variations. It is undeniably true, for example, that some people have darker skin than others. This is a biological fact, enc

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ed an impressive adaptation to AustraliaÆs challenging environments. The total Aboriginal population at that time was about 300,000 and the people had developed many complex cultural and linguistic variations between regional and local communities (Armitage, 1995, p. 28). During the first century of white settlement, there were dramatic declines in the Aboriginal population in all parts of the country resulting from the introduction of diseases for which the Aborigines had little or no acquired immunity; social and cultural disruptions; brutal mistreatment; and reprisals for acts of organized resistance. By the 1920s, the Aboriginal population had declined to 60,000 (Armitage, 1995, pp. 30 and 32). The AboriginesÆ social and political status was so low that they were omitted from the official national censuses until 1971, following the overwhelming passage of a 1967 referendum that granted the government power to legislate for the Aborigines and to include them in the census count. At the 1991 census, about 266,000 Australian residents were counted as Aborigines. Every region of the country is now represented by its own Aboriginal land council. As noted above, the basis for race relations in Australia significantly predates Briti
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Approximate Word count = 2192
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)